Bottled beverage mixer



March 19, 1940- J. M. BETTENCOURT 2,194,290

BOTTLED BEVERAGE MIXER Filed March 28, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR JM 568261200 cart ATTORNEY March 19, 1940.

J. M. BETTENCOURT BOTTLED BEVERAGE MIXER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 21 18 B l 8 1's 1 i a m INVENTOR J Mflettezaco zu't BY Q D S ATTORNEY Patented-Mar. 19, 1940 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFiCE BOTTLED BEVERAGE MIXER John M. Bettencourt, Yuba. City, Calif.

Application March 28, 1939, Serial No. 264,545

Claims. (01159-54 This invention relates to the soft drink botsitud na ly extending bars 4 which supp t 'a tling industry, in which various soft drink mixseries of rollers 5 projecting above the bars and tures as they are bottled require mixing or agiarranged in transversely spaced rows lengthwise tating in the bottles, as is Well known. of the platform. A central longitudinal shaft 6 a At present, such mixing is eifected by shaking is mounted lengthwise on and under the platform, 5

the bottles by hand, the operator usually holding being supported at its ends in journal boxes 7 two bottles (if of the standard small size) in on the top of standards l, the hearing elements each hand at one time. This is a hard and tirfor the shaft being standard roller or other ing job as will be realized, and is relatively slow. e t ict o bearings- The principal object of my invention is to elim- A screw 8 is mounted on and p s m the 10 inate this hand shaking operation by providing platform. centrally of its area or in radial alinea machine designed to hold a case of bottles at ment with shaft 3.2116115 add a y Supported at a time, and arranged so that with practically no its lower end by a brace unit 9 depending in coneffort on the part of the operator, the contents verging rela to e S rew o adj cent the m of all the bottles of the case will be simultanes .O t e p at A We W is axially ously and thoroughly agitated and mixed. Not adjustable on the screw,.being held at any .deonly is a more uniform mixing action obtained sired point in the len th t f y 100k u s than by the hand method now used, but a much M u d on d upstanding frem t e platform larger output in a given time is possible with no along the Sides the eef a e Side Walls 52 Spaced increase in labor cost, since an entire case of 24 apart a distance Somewhat a e than he 20 bottles per operator may be mixedin the same width of case C and approximately the same time that it now takes to mix 4 bottles height as said case and forming with the plat- Further, the work incident to placing the case form, a case receiving housing. Rollers l3, dis-. and bottles in and removing the same from the posed with their axes vertical, project through 25 machine is far less arduous and consumes less the side wallsadjacent their intake end for en- 25 of the operators time than with the hand shakeas m n W the Sides of the case to centralize ing method, giving him more time to devote to the same as it moves onto the platform from the other matters incident to the job. adjacent end thereof; said rollers'being mounted A further object of the invention is to produce 011 Sp g straps M which allow e to yield a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which laterally A S pp table W or a case, 30 will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for and which includes rollers is on which. the case which it'is designed. rides, is mounted as a unit with the machine These objects I accomplish by means of such and extends ahead of the intake end of the platstructure and relative arrangement of parts as form on the e e thereof When Said platform s will fully appear by a perusal of the following n ts no up t position; Said table being 35 specification and claims. supported from the adjacent end standard I.

In the drawings similar characters of refer- D sp s between the Side Walls at the p ence indicate corresponding parts in the several thereof is a rigid presser plate ll whose area is views: greater than that of the top of the case C. This 40 Figure I is a side elevation of the machine, in plate is faced on its under side by flexible leather 40 position to receive a case of bottles, l8 of a size to enter the case, and which is backed Figure 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal section by a layer of felt I9. of the machine, showing a case of bottles there- A transverse shaft 28, having a crank handle in and engaged by the presser or hold down H at one end, is turnably mounted at its ends plate, in brackets 22. These are disposed on the out- 45 Figure 3 is a fragmentary rear or discharge side of the side walls centrally of their ends, and

end view of the machine. are movable vertically between guide bars 23 on Referring nowmore particularly to the char said walls. Clamping bolts 24 between the brackacters of reference on the drawings, the machine ets and walls maintain the brackets in any adcomprises a supporting frame which includes end justed position. 1 60 standards I of suitable height and spaced apart The shaft extends over the presser plate, and a distance greater than the length of a standis provided adjacent the side edges of said plate ard bottle case C. with eccentrics 25 turning in straps 26 secured Extending between the standards at the top is on the presser plate; the eccentric being disposed I a case supporting platform 3, which includes lonrelative to the handle so that when said eccentrics are uppermost, the handle extends upwardly also. The presser plate is unbalanced relative to the eccentrics, so that it will normally tilt upwardly somewhat toward the intake end of the machine, by a suitably disposed Weight element 21 thereon.

In operation, a case C is placed on the table l5 and is there filled with bottles B, the case being left open on top as usual. The filled case is then slid onto the platform 3 between the side walls, the bead end of the case engaging the downwardly tilted presser plate and turning the same to a substantially level position. The brackets- 22 are set so that the facing of the presser plate then clears the top of the case sufficient to prevent any jamming or catching of the same as the case is slid into position.

The handle 2| is then turned down, which lowers the eccentrics and of course the pressure plate, so that the leather facing thereon enters the case and is pressed into firm engagement with the caps of the bottles, as shown in Fig. 2, While the plate itself engages the rim of the case.

This done, the operator exerts a rotating pressure on the housing. Due to the weight ID, which is initially set on the screw 8 so as to substantially counterbalance the housing when loaded, and to the use of antifriction bearings for the axial shaft 6 of the housing, the latter rotates very easily, and will continue to rotate without further rotative impulses being imparted thereto for the necessary length of time, if the initial impulse is sufliciently strong. This continuous rotation of the case of course alternately inverts and rights the bottles, effectively mixing the contents thereof. While the mixing operation is in progress, the operator need pay no attention to the same, but can devote his time to filling the next case.

When the rotation ceases, the housing will stop right side up, and the operator then turns the handle 2| to release the presser plate. The case waiting on table [5 is then shoved into the housing, pushing the first case out and onto the delivery conveyor D. This latter unit may be a standard feature of the bottling works equipment, the mixing machine, which is portable, being disposed so as to line up with one end of said. conveyor.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A bottle agitating machine comprising a platform to support a case of bottles and adapted to receive the case thereon from one end, a rigid presser plate over the platform to engage the top of the case, a transverse shaft above the plate rockably supporting the same at a point relative to the longitudinal distribution of weight thereof such as to cause the plate to normally tilt upwardly toward the receiving end of the platform.

2. A bottle agitating machine comprising a platform to support a case of bottles and adapted to receive the case thereon from one end, a rigid presser plate over the platform to engage the top of the case, a horizontal shaft under and extending lengthwise of the platform, means mounting the platform on the shaft for rotation about the axis thereof, standards supporting the shaft at the ends of the platform and case supporting tables alined with the platform and supported at their end adjacent said platform by the standards.

3. A bottle agitating machine comprising a platform to support a case of bottles and adapted to receive the case thereon from one end, a rigid presser plate over the platform to engage the top of the case, a horizontal shaft under and supporting the platform and about the axis of which the platform may rock, a rigid member mounted at its upper end in connection with and depending from the platform radially of the shaft, a counterweight on said member, and a brace unit depending from the platform and engaging the lower end of the member.

4. A bottle agitating machine comprising a platform to support a case of bottles, and mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis, a presser plate over the platform to engage a case supported thereon, a transverse shaft extending over the plate intermediate its ends, means turnably supporting the shaft from the platform, means applied to the shaft at one end to rotate the same, eccentrics on the shaft overhanging the platform and eccentric engaging straps fixed on the plate.

5. A bottle agitating machine comprising a platform to support a case of bottles, and mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis, a presser plate over the platform to engage a case supported thereon, a shaft extending over the plate, means turnably supporting the shaft in connection with the platform, means separately supporting the plate from the shaft and means between the shaft and one of said supporting means to effect vertical movement of the plate by rotation of the shaft.

JOHN M. BETTENCOURT. 

